Perm-based United Russia deputy Sergey Zakharov, who spoke out against the war in Ukraine in 2022, announced his early resignation as a deputy. He wrote about it on Instagram.
Zakharov clarified that he came into politics consciously, "based on his inner convictions", that one should not sit idly by, but try to "change people's lives for the better." He also wrote that the deputy must first of all defend the interests of all the inhabitants who elected him, regardless of their political views. He also stated that he "remained non-partisan" all these years.
“We grew up on the slogan “Peace - peace, war - war!”, Every year we went to demonstrations with posters “Peace, labor, May!”, And I’m not going to change my beliefs at someone’s whim. Therefore, I am not ashamed to look in the mirror in the morning. I absolutely do not agree with today's policy of the state and do not intend to participate in it. I'm leaving," Zakharov wrote.
In the fall of 2022, Zakharov published anti-war posts. In one of them, he wrote: "He could become a great president of a great state, but he will remain in history a petty dictator of a poor country." Zakharov later left Russia for Germany. On November 17, 2022, Zakharov was expelled from the United Russia faction for missing six plenary meetings, leaving for Germany and publishing anti-war posts from there. The secretary of the regional branch of the party, Vyacheslav Grigoriev, stated that Zakharov's actions "demonstrate complete isolation from the people who elected him," and there would be no "way back" for the deputy. Zakharov was elected to the Perm City Duma in 2016, and then, in 2021, in single-mandate constituency No. 5 (Industrialny district of Perm).
In March, Kommersant reported that deputies of the State Duma and regional legislative assemblies, as well as senators and mayors, would have to report to the FSB and the Foreign Intelligence Service about their trips abroad, according to new amendments to the laws. After the start of the war against Ukraine, Russian civil servants and employees of state-owned companies are required to hand over their passports “for safekeeping” to the FSB or a special department at the place of work, the Sistema investigative project found out .